Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Great American Sound Original ampzilla Amplifier (SS) by strangebrewpr

Model:	Original ampzilla
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$750.00
Description:	First fully complimentary balance ss amplifier
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by strangebrewpr on March 24, 2016 at 16:10:21
IP Address: 66.249.88.203 Add Your Review
for the Original ampzilla

I'm not going to get into much detailed on this dinosaur but having been given one as a gift from a good friend and heard it on my system I am compelled to write about it

First things first for many years I was on the recieving end of a hifi dealer who used to lend me a plethora of equipments over the years so I know what a good amplifier can do for a system . Everything has it's impact on the sound , but a amplifier makes such a large impact that I would have to say theres a lot of interaction between amp and speakers .

This dinosaur , the gas Ampzilla is a very good amp even if it should be put on display at the museum of natural history along side the T Rex . James Borgiornio ( if miss spelled deal with it ) was the designer . It was the first fully complementary circuit design of its time ( most amp that have comed out after , one way or the other is a copy or a modified version of this design , that says something about the genius of the guy .

Totally discrete as amp of its vintage , big and heavy with a transformer that is very big and capacitor that can be mistaken for campbells soup cans . A cleverly design system where a square heatsink with a fan blowing at the bottom outputting the bi polar transistor heat that are connected two either side of the heatsinks . Two big meters at the front making it look like a dragon . Nice , my type of macho amp .

First version came out as a kit for 450.00 , then the built version for 750 .00 . Many thousand were sold which after having heard it I now understand why . At the time it came out most ss amps were hard , flat , screechy sounding with pour soundstage . Engineers were trying to learn how to design these things with a musical sound . Most die hard music lovers sticked with their tube amps , even if they gave much more power , lower heat and more maintenence free then tubes .

This amp made tube loves take notice for the first time . Why ? Because this amp does not do hardly anything wrong and its sins are of omission . It is smooth , dynamic , wide soundstage with good imaging . Its highs are delicate with some air when not stressed . I gets just a bit steely on top when pushed hard but the soundstage does not break into a mess when pushed . It maintains its composure and you can pick out different instrument when all breaks loose on musical crecendos . Tone is very even fron top to bottom .

I whould say that nowadays a 1 grand amp will sound better . More air , imaging , soundstage . The one area where this amp is still competative is in the bass . This amp had and still has great bass . It has depth , air with excellent control . The initial wacks are great and stops on a dime if need be .

So the ampzilla as I see it is a very good all around musical amp as it does not do nothing bad or annoying to the musical experience and can be confidently used on small and large speakers as it has 200 watts at 8 ohms and 340 at 4 ohms and is very dynamic and smooth without sounding rolled off at the highs. But it would be an excellent choice for subwoofer duties as its bass is very good .I understand many used it with dalquish dQ10 speakers which were at their time a truly high end speakers with very high resolution . Nice gift , wouldnt you say ?

Product Weakness:	You can do better at the 1 or 1.5 grand range but not in the bass where it is very good indeed .
Product Strengths:	Smooth , dynamic , good wide soundstage , with excellent bass

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Mccormack dna125 , counterpint np100 , ampzilla by Gas
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Audible Illusions 3 a with gold phono board
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Highly modified project turntable with ortofon moving coil
Speakers: Magnepan 1.6 , spica tc 50 , LSA 1 , JMlabs 706 v
Cables/Interconnects: JPS interconnect and speaker and power cabling threwout
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Ecleptic
Room Size (LxWxH): 21 feet x 12 feet x 8 feet
Room Comments/Treatments: Drapes and open window from top to bottom on back wall
Time Period/Length of Audition: 5 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Richard Grey
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Mccormack dna125 , counterpint np100 , ampzilla by Gas
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Audible Illusions 3 a with gold phono board
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Highly modified project turntable with ortofon moving coil
Speakers:	Magnepan 1.6 , spica tc 50 , LSA 1 , JMlabs 706 v
Cables/Interconnects:	JPS interconnect and speaker and power cabling threwout
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Ecleptic
Room Size (LxWxH):	21 feet x 12 feet x 8 feet
Room Comments/Treatments:	Drapes and open window from top to bottom on back wall
Time Period/Length of Audition:	5 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Richard Grey
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner